Global mkts fall; will Italian polls weigh on Nifty too?

All eyes on railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal who will deliver the Railway Budget in the Lok Sabha at 12 noon today. Network 18 learns that today's railway budget is likely to bring in a fuel adjustment component in rail fares.

Like this story, share it with millions of investors on M3

Global mkts fall; will Italian polls weigh on Nifty too?

All eyes on railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal who will deliver the Railway Budget in the Lok Sabha at 12 noon today. Network 18 learns that today's railway budget is likely to bring in a fuel adjustment component in rail fares.

Post your opinion here

Moneycontrol Bureau

All eyes on railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal who will deliver the Railway Budget in the Lok Sabha at 12 noon today. Network 18 learns that today's Railway Budget is likely to bring in a fuel adjustment component in rail fares, A passenger amenities CESS may also be in the works. This is the first Railways Budget presented by a Congress minister in 17 years.

Key equity benchmarks ended trade on Monday flat with a positive bias. The Sensex closed up 14 points at 19,330, and the Nifty ended up 4 points at 5854.

Meanwhile, in the US, stocks kicked off the week with a big thud as all three major indices dropped more than 1 percent across the board as investors remained concerned over Italy’s election results. The S&P 500 broke below 1,500 and the Dow declined more than 200 points, retreating from its fresh multi-year high. The CBOE volatility index surged more than 30 percent to trade near 19.

In key data to watch out for in the US today, new home sales are expected to come in higher at 381,000. Consumer confidence index is seen at 61. Also watch out for data from S&P case-Shiller Home Price Index. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke is slated to trek up to Capitol Hill for his biannual congressional testimony.

The big cue which is in less than a week from today is the sequester deadline or the automatic spending cuts which will be triggered unless Congress cuts a deal to avoid that.

Uncertainty over the Italian election outcome dragged European indices off their highs on concern that an unclear outcome could hamper the country's effort to implement economic reforms.

There could be a gridlock parliament leading to fresh round of elections. A three-way tie appeared possible in the Chamber of Deputies between Center-Left Alliance, former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's Center-Right alliance and 5-star movement, according to an initial projection by broadcaster in Italy. If confirmed, these results could lead to a new round of elections or a potentially unwieldy coalition government

Currency

The euro slipped to a six-week low versus the dollar, below 1.31. The dollar index inched closes to the 82 mark.

In a blow to the government's 2G auction plans, there are no takers for the 900 MHZ GSM spectrum in the upcoming auctions in March as Vodafone, Bharti Airtel and Idea have decided not to participate.

This comes after the Delhi High Court refused to grant a stay on the 900 MHZ auctions based on the pleas of Vodafone and Bharti.

Bharti and Idea may see a relief rally today as they are unlikely to acquire spectrum at higher prices and will likely reduce their regulatory payments in future.

Pantaloon Retail clocked a net loss of Rs 20.4 crore compared to a profit of over Rs 5 crore last year. Meanwhile the company reported 16% growth in net sales at Rs 1,253 crore. While revenues look healthy, performance looks a little lackluster operationally because of 80 bps decline in margins.

Bata will be declaring numbers today. A CNBC-TV18 poll indicates that its total income may rise 19%. The revenue growth is likely to be driven by festive sales and store expansion. The profits may rise close to 19% margins may surprise by 50 bps on year on year basis but sequentially they may post a strong 400 bps growth.